Samsung Pay to begin rolling out across Singapore in June

Samsung Pay
READY FOR LAUNCH: Consumers in Singapore will soon be able to use Samsung Pay

Samsung Pay is to begin rolling out across Singapore on June 16, making it the first country in Southeast Asia to get the mobile payment service. It will launch with support from American Express, MasterCard and Visa and major banks including Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank Singapore, POSB Bank Singapore, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered.

“At launch, Samsung Pay will be accepted at the vast majority of merchants, wherever MasterCard or Visa is accepted, and is not limited to merchants that have updated to contactless terminals,” Samsung says. “Singapore consumers will be able to use Samsung Pay at their favourite popular chains, as well as thousands of independent shops. Samsung Pay will feature close to 40 preferred merchants at launch.

“From launch, customers will immediately be able to utilize Samsung Pay at most merchants within the following categories — supermarkets and convenience stores, departmental stores, healthcare and beauty outlets, food and beverage outlets, fashion and lifestyle outlets, electronics and furnishing stores [and] travel and entertainment.”

Expansion

“Samsung Pay is continually expanding its partnership ecosystem to provide greater flexibility, access and choice for customers in Singapore,” the company adds. “Additionally, Samsung and Singtel will be exploring potential collaborations in the mobile payment space.”

Samsung Pay will be available on the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 4G+, S6 Edge+ 4G+, S7 4g+ and S7 Edge 4G+ in Singapore.

“Since the introduction of Samsung Pay last year, we have seen great momentum and experience significant consumer adoption,” says Thomas Ko, vice president and global co-general manager of Samsung Pay. “We are excited to bring this service to Singapore consumers and we hope to introduce value-added services to drive and lead innovation in mobile commerce, giving consumers a safer, smarter and better mobile wallet.”

Driving adoption

“We have established extensive partnerships with card networks, issuers and merchants for Samsung Pay to be readily available almost anywhere for consumers in Singapore,” adds Stephen Suh, president of Samsung Electronics Singapore.

“By supporting both contactless and non-contactless payment, we are confident that this benefit will help to drive consumer adoption for Samsung Pay. What’s more, you can transact any value on Samsung Pay, up to the amount of your credit card limit.”

Samsung Pay began a beta test in Singapore in May 2016 and announced in April that it would be launching the mobile payment service in the country in Q2 this year.

Samsung Pay was launched in Korea in August 2015 and in the US in September 2015. Its launch in China in partnership with China UnionPay was announced in December. Plans for a global expansion of the service were announced at Mobile World Congress in February this year.

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